Basmah Omair, executive director of the Khadijah bint Khuwailid Businesswomen Center, gave an overview of the achievements of the center and also the steady march of women in business and society. The center, which is part of the JCCI, aims to remove the obstacles facing women in order to truly empower them economically and socially, Basmah told the visiting delegation headed by Thomas Staehelin, president of Swiss Business Association Saudi Arabia (SBASA), which has organized the mission's current visit.
"We are doing reform work for policy and procedures for businesswomen," Basmah said. "We take from Saudi businesswomen the problems they are facing and then we go up to the ministries and government officials and discuss them," she said.
The center at the JCCI is the first of its kind in any Saudi chamber of commerce and industry to represent businesswomen's issues. It aims to provide an Islamic role model. The center has been successfully organizing forums to discuss women's issues from religious, educational, social and economical perspectives.
Staehelin, who was accompanied by Swiss Consul General Hans Stalder, said he was impressed with the increasing role of Saudi woman in business and society. He added that the bilateral business ties have been expanding since the signing of a memorandum of understanding in 2006 between the Council of Saudi Chambers of Commerce and Industry and Deiss Joseph, the then Swiss minister of economy, which resulted in the formation of SBASA. Staehelin is the cochairman of SBASA and Tariq Al-Qahtani of Dammam heads the Saudi side in the association.
Since then four meetings have been held between the two countries, annually once. SBASA's objective is to introduce Swiss small and medium establishments to the potentially rich market of the Kingdom. "For this, we do quite a few activities in Switzerland. We hold business forums and conferences involving the two sides."
SBASA's role is not limited to business alone, but takes interest in promoting cultural ties. "We tour cultural and heritage sites of the Kingdom. Last Year, we visited sites including Madain Saleh." The delegation is visiting Abha on Wednesday for a two-day stay during which they will have a meeting with the Abha Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
The delegation had wide ranging discussions with various ministries, and officials of Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency (SAMA) and Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority (SAGIA) during its visit to Riyadh earlier.
